Just how wank are 3 pot Corsa B's? And the 1360cc Pug 306!

[joethornton1986]

dredful engines (1.0 3cyl)! my aunty had one from new and lent me it for a month or two when i was between roadworthy vehicles. i can honestly say the most horrendous thing ive ever driven an ive had some shite! fristly it had no PAS an the steering made my 1969 volvo 140 of the time feel a breeze! then if you ever tried to accelerate at anything more optemistic than a toitoise pace the only response was a dull groan from the useless little engine! we could of just had a friday afternoon car but i have spoke to other ppl who were less than satisfied with 1.0 corsas

[Cavcraft]

dredful engines (1.0 3cyl)! my aunty had one from new and lent me it for a month or two when i was between roadworthy vehicles. i can honestly say the most horrendous thing ive ever driven an ive had some shite! fristly it had no PAS an the steering made my 1969 volvo 140 of the time feel a breeze! then if you ever tried to accelerate at anything more optemistic than a toitoise pace the only response was a dull groan from the useless little engine! we could of just had a friday afternoon car but i have spoke to other ppl who were less than satisfied with 1.0 corsas

Proton Person Lovers?

[garbaldy]

A friend took a chance on one going cheap that had failed on emissions (turned out it had failed twice on this). It had very low mileage for a 10 year car (40k or less) which may have had something to do with the problem.To cut a long story short, after fiddling around replacing this and that (two EGR valves), he bit the bullet and got a s/h engine fitted, the original one just wouldn't pass the emissions. It still took more fiddling about to finally get the engine fault light to go away. .

you dont live in the borders do you as this is the exact story a friend of mine would tell you he bought one for his daughter and had nowt but bother with the engine managment light and passing the emissions test he tried the replacement engine route but to no avail so he sold it on and bought a slightly newer one but alass that one suffered the same problems, he now will not touch any vaux bland car as he has had enough,He now has a kA and has had no trouble with it whatsoever and his daughter loves it.my vote wouldnt go in favour of a corsa thats for sure

[fiatdaft]

taking it to somebody with a decent fault code reader would probably have been the cheaper and more sensible option.

[garbaldy]

taking it to somebody with a decent fault code reader would probably have been the cheaper and more sensible option.

well if the local vauxhall main dealers didnt have the right kit then i guess he was doomed from the start he said that what he spent on the first corsa in repairs would have bought a far better car but as he was trying to get his lass onto the road for a reasonable cost he decided on a corsa, he still has a bitter taste with his decision

[Albert Ross]

Simply put, buy a bicycle or get a bus pass.Nails, even VOSA think they should all be scrapped. There are 3 paragraphs of special notices for every VT40 I print, just to remind me to check for corrosion on door pillars, chassis legs, etc, suspension issues, and allsorts of other shit.

[fiatdaft]

vosa think that all corsa's should be crushed? i don't think so.

[garbaldy]

vosa think that all corsa's should be crushed?.

only the 3 pot ones

[Burnside]

I had an early corsa a k reg 1.2 LS 3dr as i was carless at the time an it was £30 ! With 1 months T+T it was ok in the sence that it was better than walking. Felt really guttless to drive too. But shouldn't really moan for how much i paid. Not my cup of tea but rather have a corsa over a ka anyday. Wouldn't have a ka even as a gift. Just watch out for the master brake cylinder thats bolted to the bulkhead common rot spot so im told. Mine failed there and on the sills and the stress mark on the rear quarter panel door piliar where the shell flexes. So swapped it for a rusty mk4 H reg escort 1.4 L instead that was so rusty that rust from the roof use to fall into the car when the sunroof was open. Really liked that car a lot though.

[CortinaDave]

i Had a P reg corsa 1.2LS when it was only 3 years old. The one and only car i've ever bought that was newish and also the only motor ive ever bought on finance.It was a total disaster. endless management light woes which cost me a fortune to sort out and a constantly snapping fan belt for no apparent reason.the alternator and the drive pullys etc were all changed, still it would do 100 miles then snap.Bloody awful car. Abandoned it in the drive for a year and a bit until id paid enough of the finance just to hand it back. Never again.Bought a Y reg sierra ghia to replace it for £350 which was a VASTLY superior car.a few months later i saw the corsa at the side of the A92 with the bonnet up, and the new owner standing, fanbelt in hand Amazingly according to DVLA its still on the road today!

[saabhappy]

Had 2 1.4 8v Corsas which never missed a beat in the 5 years I ran them. Miles better than the Clio I ran.

[vicsmith]

The 1400 Corsa is in a different league, 1.0 is a city car, 1.4 has enough guts for going anyplace you want to go, 1.4 Auto is the most unstoppable snow car I have ever known.

[woolleyiain]

My first ever demo car was a 3 pot Corsa with the SqueezyTronic gearbox. I ended up with it because no one else would drive it. A bigger pile of shit I have never encountered. I've had faster Yugo 45's...

[Station]

Had a 1.7 diesel Corsavan, v sturdy vehicle.

[CortinaDave]

I have to admit the 1.4's seem better. I had a W reg sport one as a courtesy car for a few months during insurance wrangles and it felt a much more together beast than my own 1.2.I think they revised the steering on the later cars as well, the W plate definitely seemed less vague on the road.

[saabhappy]

Which leads me to the conclusion that those people who dismiss the entire Corsa range out of hand are talking the pseudo-Clarkson rubbish that goes down well at the pub but has no bearing on real life. City cars aren't meant to be anything else, and models further up the range are perfectly OK. And at the times I bought my two they were covered by Network Q which made them a very sensible choice for someone who relied on his car. As it was, neither car needed anything other than routine servicing, which was easy and cheap.

[trigger]

My wife and a M reg 1.2 Corsa, I quite like it and i never had any problems with it in the year that we owned it, Until i sold to a lad who's dad i worked it at it them blew up 6 months later... I'd vote for a Micra, My wife had a P reg 1.3 once and it was a great cra, Went like shit of a stick and was easy to drive and fix, Only trouble with her's was that it was Purple!

[warren t claim]

I never knew a car could divide opinions as much as this. I thought any car was capable of prolonged motorway driving these days, I even do big miles in a 1992 4 speed Micra with no real problems.

[Station]

Later cars had 'electronic' motor-driven power steering, as opposed to fluid driven PAS.

[saabhappy]

I never knew a car could divide opinions as much as this.

It's really a question of deciding whether you want the opinion of someone who's only interested in how "sick" "win" or "cool" a car is, or someone who's bought one with his own money and used it day in, day out over a number of years.

[pogweasel]

City cars aren't meant to be anything else

See this is the part I don't get, "city cars". Useless outside the urban confines, and surely conurbations large enough that you'd benefit from a city-specific car will (a) have hideous congestion so that no 4 wheeled machine has much advantage and ( have a decent public transport system. Also, if you are going to spend hours in traffic jams, a 'city car' should be at least comfortable and have an automatic gearbox....

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I had two Ford Ka's, one new and the other about a year old. They'll both be rusty heaps now (P and T reg) but both were utterly reliable and far, far better than a Corsa. For a start it had superb handling allied to a good ride and sharp steering - three things a Corsa has never had. It also had very tall gearing giving something like 23mph/1000 in fifth. Unless you hit a steep gradient you could maintain 100 on the m/ways all day and it was also very refined at speed with low engine noise and very little wind noise. It was both an excellent city car and a great motorway cruiser as well. The seats were very good over long distances.The fact that the rust like a bastard was of no concern when I bought mine. My GF of the time had a four pot 1998 Corsa which was reasonably awful. I'm sure they're quite robust but what an absolute turd to drive, fitting in nicely with the rubbish GM were making back then.Whilst the Vectra C and last Astra weren't bad cars, the current Corsa is a shitheap as well.

[saabhappy]

The Ka is an ugly little heap, and though I've only used them as courtesy and hire cars I wouldn't part with a five bob postal order for one. Nasty!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The Ka is an ugly little heap, and though I've only used them as courtesy and hire cars I wouldn't part with a five bob postal order for one. Nasty!

A bit like some gutless, understeering Swedish BMW wannabe then. Absolute rubbish!I'd pay 50 quid for a Sabb just so I could weigh it in as scrap and double my money.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Now now!!! Stop bickering naughty boys!

 

[saabhappy]

The Ka is an ugly little heap, and though I've only used them as courtesy and hire cars I wouldn't part with a five bob postal order for one. Nasty!

A bit like some gutless, understeering Swedish BMW wannabe then. Absolute rubbish!I'd pay 50 quid for a Sabb just so I could weigh it in as scrap and double my money.

Good for you, although what that childish tantrum has to do with the topic, fuck knows.

[Albert Ross]

I work in a Vauxhall dealers. I carry out MOTs, and I can honestly state that Corsas of any age are shit. They rot where you can't see them, unlike a Ka. Silly parking brake cable design means these snap with tedious regularity. Gear linkages pack up, CV boots come adrift, balljoints go slack, column torque sensors go crap, etc. I could go on.

[wilko]

I never knew a car could divide opinions as much as this. I thought any car was capable of prolonged motorway driving these days, I even do big miles in a 1992 4 speed Micra with no real problems.

Opinions are like arseholes, everybody has one and they sometimes stink!Lets face it, other than stuff with terminally terminal design issues like early BMW V8's, 3 litre dizzler Saab 9-5's and the like, which are to be avoided unless you are an ardent gambler, most 90's onwards cars are relatively samey and not that much better or worse than equivalent choices in all honesty? The fact SWMBO just got a 206 started a mini "oh how awful 206's are!" discussion recently, but are they really? and Corsas too?Rest assured, whatever you might buy, there will always be those trotting out the alternatives, this will always involve Japanese & German alternatives to whatever you are considering. Strangely, the only engines I have ever had to rebuild in order to avoid economic ruination were German and Japanese, but you can't beat them, apparently!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Whats the story with 3.0 saab diesels? Sounds interestng.

[wilko]

Sadly, the Izuzu 3.0 V6 has a tendency to become terminally ill and spit it's cylinder liners out - cars having 2nd and 3rd engines fitted under warranty are not uncommon!